Looking Better Online Can Boost Your Results

As a single Catholic, you’ve made the decision to find someone special. You’ve placed your hopes in God’s hands, and are doing your part by becoming a member of CatholicMatch. Congratulations! I know this is serious business to you. You’ve likely spent many hours carefully thinking about and wordsmithing your profile, interview, and “Favorite Things” sections of your profile. You’ve posted a photo of yourself that you like. You’ve spent a lot of time reading the profiles of potential mates, sending emotigrams and messages. Excellent! But, maybe for some reason, you aren’t getting the results you’d hoped for.

Well, I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Giles Fabris, CEO and Director of Operations for LookBetterOnline.Com, who has some advice that has benefited thousands of online daters and could very well benefit you. That is, your photo is the key that unlocks the doors for meeting the opposite sex.

“In order to get a connection,” Giles stated, “a good photo is very important. You need one that accurately represents you at your best, and just any old photo won’t do the trick. There are specific ways of taking a photo that will get you noticed.” You can see what he’s referring to when you see the before and after photos of just a few of their happy clients on their website homepage.

“If you look at online dating realistically, the website does all it can to find you the best match through it’s algorithms based upon the criteria you enter, but little of that matters when all that is returned are unattractive photos. Think about it this way; your online profile is your invitation to others to find out who you are and when they see your picture, you want them to see what life with you will be like.

Giles knows what he’s talking about. He found his fiancée through an online dating service but not without experiencing the frustration of searching through profiles with photos that did little to represent a woman’s attractiveness, and meeting women whose pictures were nothing like the real woman.

“One of my partners signed up for online dating and was very frustrated with her results. Then she found someone she really liked. He had great photos! She felt comfortable and excited about meeting him. He turned out to be a professional photographer and they eventually married. It wasn’t long before the idea to help people look better online blossomed into what it is today.”

Giles says their goal at LookBetterOnline.com is to help as many people as they can find someone special, and he believes having a great photo is key. So far, they have a 98% success rate.

What other advice does Giles offer to online daters who post photos of themselves? First and foremost, don’t hide who you are. He goes on to explain that women, in particular, are extremely critical of themselves and try to hide their figures or other attributes they feel aren’t attractive. “But,” he says, “all men don’t have the same taste in women and they’re all not looking for a runway model. Right now there are thousands of men out there looking for someone exactly like you. If you hide who you are, they’ll never find you.”

Another great piece of advice he offers to online daters looking to improve their images is to dress up for your picture. It shows others how great you look and that you take care in your presentation. Doing this can often bring out your personality in the photo shoot as you take different poses. He also suggests having photos that reveal your different looks (casual, formal, etc.) For women, he suggests wearing the same makeup for a photo shoot that you would normally wear on a date. That can eliminate a lot of disappointment for both people meeting for a date.

But one of his wisest recommendations is to replace the word “dating” in your thoughts and words to “meeting.” This alone can reduce the stress and worry of online dating through remembering what this is all about anyway…finding someone special and making friends along the way.

Giles says the hidden benefit of having a great photo is that you look at yourself and say, “I like who I am!” And he’s backing his word with a special offer for CatholicMatch members. If you decide to use LookBetterOnline.Com to upgrade your photos, just use the promo code “CatholicMatch” for $40 off.

I encourage you to take a look at LookBetterOnline.Com to see how your photo and the number of responses you get can improve.

As always, you can reach me at asklisa@catholicmatch.com and follow me on Twitter at @lisaduffy.

Author and speaker Lisa Duffy has 20 years of both personal and professional experience in helping others deal with their divorces. Born and raised in Southern California, Lisa suffered through the pain of being a divorced Catholic in the early 1990s. After seven years of intense struggle, spiritual growth, personal triumphs, and finally remarriage in the church and the birth of three miracle children, her one desire was to help others who were suffering find hope and healing. Lisa has worked for the church in a variety of roles, most recently bringing her divorce support program, Journey of Hope, to parishes in the US and Canada. Lisa is a frequent guest on Catholic radio shows such as Relevant Radio's "On Call With Wendy Wiese", "Catholic Answers Live," and has appeared several times on EWTN's "Women of Grace" with Johnnette Benkovic. Lisa lives in South Carolina with her family.

6 Comments

This is a great article! I’m sick and tired of being sent matches of men who look like the “walking dead”!!!! It’s better to not have any photo for your profile, than one which makes you look so unattractive! If you can’t stand looking at yourself as pictured in your profile photo, what makes you think someone else wants to look at you, too? I’ve seen quite a few “stalker or pedofile” profiles. And let me tell you, they are a Huge turnoff! Maybe this article will help persons to rethink their presonal representation of themselves.

One of the funniest and most confusing things I’ve been seeing on online dating sites is photos of men with fish pictures! What is it with these fish?! LOL Guys, do you really think that a photo with you holding a fish is going to attract most women?

Terry, I know what you mean! I guess the fish is to prove that they are patient enough to fish and they will always be able to provide a fish dinner for the family! See aren’t they thoughtful and cute
Deer season is coming soon can hardly wait for those photos!

.My sister and her husband will be celebrating their ten year anniversary in a few months. They met through Catholic Match. My sister didn’t post a picture. She didn’t post a picture because she knew she needed a man who walked by faith and not by sight. Yes, she is rare indeed. God has completely blessed her and her husband’s faith with a solid marriage & four beautiful children.

Lisa, did you really say the man who runs the look better online website knows what he is talking about because he had experienced frustrations but is now engaged? Hhmm, so let me (and the rest of the readers) get this right…. we should judge the validity of what someone says based on how much frustration they have experienced and how far along they are on the marital continuum? Really -Lisa? Oh my! You are better than that (Proverbs 28:23).

Many, many people (who are confident & attractive) do not post a picture for valid and faith filled reasons. These faith filled people trust and pray that the Holy Spirit will use their profile to speak to the right person. These are the very people the church needs more of –people who walk as we all are called to -by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)!